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“You can stop reading, I’m not dead.” I jumped up from my chair at Ryan’s low, raspy voice. I leaned over him, desperate to see his eyes, ensuring I hadn’t hallucinated his words. “I’m okay, Talia. I’m so sorry, but . . . I’m okay.”
With our locked hands against my chest, I brushed my lips over his dry ones, and he managed to return my kiss.
“Superman without the tights,” he said around a cough. “Remember?” I laugh-cried as he finally opened his eyes. His light moan of pain as he lifted his other arm and reached for my cheek brought fresh tears. “Owen, is he okay? The others?”
I nodded, the tears dropping onto his chest. “Everyone’s okay,” I assured him.
“That’s good,” he said, closing his eyes again and whispering, “I did stop you before you got to the best part of the letter.”
“Which was?” I wet my lips, experiencing relief like I’d never known in my entire life.
“The obvious part.” Without opening his eyes, he met my mouth for another soft, quick kiss. “That I love you,” he said, just before his free hand went to his chest. He groaned in pain and his left arm plummeted to his side as the monitors started wailing.
He was crashing . . .
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
NATALIA
“He gave up everything for you. Always took the heavy hits meant for you. He was willing to trade his life for you and now . . .” This time, I couldn’t help myself. I pounded Anthony’s chest with my fists in the hallway outside Ryan’s room.
It’d felt as if my own heart had stopped beating as I watched a team rush into the room, working to save Ryan’s life. And then they’d forced me out into the hall.
“I’m so sorry,” Anthony returned with a sob, and when he dropped to his knees in the hallway, I about went with him. Someone caught me from behind, hooking my arms to stop me from crashing, too.
I turned to see a guy I didn’t recognize, but he was in a hospital gown and looked pretty banged up. “Owen?”
His room was next to Ryan’s. He must’ve forced himself to stand and come find out what was happening. “Hi,” he said, still holding me despite the fact he’d just survived an explosion, but his eyes weren’t on me, they were pointed at Ryan’s room.
“He . . . what if this was a heart attack like his dad had?” I rushed out, my body going limp. I didn’t want Owen to have to use up his strength to help me, but I couldn’t seem to control myself. “Let go. Let me fall,” I begged, becoming dead weight in Owen’s arms.
Owen took a knee, going down with me. “I got you. It’ll be okay,” he murmured, pulling me against him. He was the last person who should’ve been helping me, given the injuries he’d sustained, but like hell would I let Anthony touch me. The connection I felt to Owen after knowing him for less than thirty seconds was already stronger than the one I had with Anthony after everything he’d done.
When I looked up, I saw more of Ryan’s teammates and his uncle filtering into the hall at the commotion.
Ryan’s door shot open a moment later, and the doctors and nurses wheeled his bed out in a hurry, then turned down a hall, and I had to sit there and watch them take him away from me.
“What the hell happened?” Noah barked out, terror in his voice. Two of Ryan’s friends helped us to our feet, but they ignored Anthony who now had his back to the wall with his legs stretched out in front of him. His eyes were set on the only remaining nurse from Ryan’s room, who eyed all of us crowded there in the tight space, waiting for answers.
The nurse removed her gloves. “In rare cases, trauma to the chest can induce a heart attack. At the rate his BP dropped, too, it’s possible there was another bleed. Or his brain . . .” She let her voice trail off. “When we know more, we’ll fill you in. But does his family have a history of heart—”
“Yes,” Anthony cut her off. “Our dad died of a heart attack at forty-five. Or the car crash caused the heart attack, but yeah . . .”
“The doctors will do what they can, I promise. And if he needs heart surgery, we have the best heart surgeon on call,” the French nurse said. “He’s in good hands.” She looked at Owen and frowned. “We need to redress your wounds, and perhaps run a few more scans to be on the safe side given what happened to your friend.”
“I’m fine,” Owen said, accepting Noah’s arm around his back for support as he wavered on his feet.
“Do it. Now,” Luke roughly commanded, arms going across his chest. “That’s an order. Your wife is en route, and she’ll have my head if you don’t.”
Owen let go of a deep breath and reluctantly nodded. “Okay.”
Noah and the nurse helped Owen back to his room, and the rest of the guys looked around as if unsure what to do next. They probably felt helpless, and they didn’t seem to be the type of people who knew how to handle that.
“Ryan was talking to me just before he, um, coded?” Crashed? I’d heard his nurses use both terms. “He told me he loved me and then . . .” I had no idea why I’d shared that, but Anthony’s eyes narrowed on me in shock.
Jessica must’ve noticed I was going pale or on the verge of falling, again, because she stepped around Anthony’s outstretched legs and reached for me. “I’ve got you.” Turning to Anthony next, she said, “I’ll let my husband scrape you off the floor, though, and toss you into your bed. I’m thinking Natalia doesn’t want to be near you right now.”
“Ryan’s young,” Luke spoke up. “He was already here in the hospital when he went into cardiac arrest, well, if that’s what it was, and um . . .” He swiped a hand over the back of his head as if his nerves were getting to him. “So hopefully that means there’ll be minimal damage to his heart.” He looked at me and added, “He’s got a long life ahead of him. From the sound of it, that life will be with you.”
